We’ve all been there. It’s 5:30 PM on a Tuesday, the kids are asking what’s for dinner for the fifteenth time, and you’re staring into the fridge wondering how you’re going to turn a pack of ground beef and some pasta into a “balanced meal.”

The pressure to eat well is everywhere, and let’s be honest – it can be overwhelming. We’re made to think we need to eat perfectly, shop at farmers’ markets, and spend hours meal prepping. But most of us are just trying to get through the week without ordering pizza for the third time.

Adding more vegetables to your family’s meals doesn’t have to be a big project. It doesn’t require special ingredients or a total lifestyle change. For me, it’s really just about finding small, low-effort ways to put a few more plants on the plate.

Mixing them into what you’re already making

One of the easiest ways to get more vegetables onto the table is to just put them inside the food you’re already cooking. This isn’t about “hiding” things—though that’s a valid strategy if you’ve got a picky eater—it’s just about building out the meal so it’s more filling.

The blender is a great tool for this. If you’ve got a handful of baby spinach that’s starting to look a little sad in the bag, throw it in a fruit smoothie. Yes, it’ll turn the drink a slightly funky green (unless you use blueberries or blackberries to camouflage it), but you truly cannot taste it. The sweetness of a banana or some frozen mango completely takes over. It’s a low-stress way to start the day with a serving of greens before anyone has even had their coffee.

If smoothies aren’t your thing (we don’t often make smoothies), look at your sauces. If I’m heating up a jar of marinara, I’ll often grate a zucchini or a carrot right into the pot while it simmers. The zucchini mostly melts away into the sauce. It adds some bulk and nutrients without changing the flavour of the spaghetti, and it’s a lot easier for me than trying to make a separate side dish.

Using shortcuts like frozen or pre-cut

There is absolutely no shame in the shortcut game. In fact, as a busy parent, I’ve found that shortcuts are often the only reason dinner actually happens at my house. We tend to think that “fresh is best,” but that mindset often leads to a “crisper drawer of death” – that spot in the fridge where expensive produce goes to turn into brown liquid because I didn’t have the energy to wash and chop it after a long day.

Frozen vegetables can be massive win here. Most of them are frozen right at the peak of freshness, meaning they actually keep their nutrients better than “fresh” produce that has been sitting on a truck for a week. They don’t go bad in three days, and they require zero prep from me. You can throw a handful of frozen peas into Mac and Cheese, or add some frozen corn into your taco meat while it’s browning. It adds colour, texture, and vitamins with literally five seconds of effort.

The same goes for pre-cut bags. If buying a pre-washed bag of kale or a container of pre-sliced peppers is the difference between me eating a vegetable or just having toast, it can make things a little easier. It’s not always the most budget-friendly option, but when it’s accessible, it can help take some of the effort out of getting a meal together.

Giving roasting a try

If your family isn’t big on vegetables, it might just be because of how they’re cooked. I often steam ours. Steamed or boiled vegetables are gentle methods that help retain many of the nutrients, but they can sometimes be a bit soft and mild in flavour—not always the most exciting.

Honestly, I often find things are easier when I roast vegetables. I’ll toss whatever I have—like carrots or broccoli—in a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, and put them in a hot oven at about 200°C/400°F.

• Carrots: Roasted carrots taste almost like candy compared to raw ones. They get soft on the inside and slightly browned on the outside.
• Broccoli: My kids actually like broccoli better when the edges get a little bit crispy in the oven. It’s a very different experience than the soggy broccoli you get from steaming.
• Sheet Pan Meals: This is the ultimate busy-person move. On a busy night, I’ll put some chicken thighs on a tray with chopped sweet potatoes and bell peppers (or whatever vegetables I have on hand). Everything cooks together, and I only have one pan to wash at the end.

The half-and-half trick

You don’t have to replace your favourite comfort foods with vegetables to be healthy. That usually just leads to feeling unsatisfied and raiding the pantry for chips an hour later. Instead, I use a half-and-half approach that keeps the flavours we like while adding in more plants.

Sometimes when I make a stir-fry, I’ll use half regular white rice and half cauliflower rice. You still get the texture and satisfaction of the rice, but you’ve doubled the veggie intake of the meal without much notice. The same works for pasta—mix some zucchini noodles (zoodles) in with your regular spaghetti. You get the volume of a big bowl of pasta but with a lot more nutrients.

I do this for tacos, too. When I’m browning ground beef, I’ll toss in a finely chopped bell pepper or a can of black beans. It stretches the meat further—which helps our grocery budget—and adds a lot of fibre. Once the taco seasoning and cheese are on there, it tastes pretty much the same to us.

From a nutrition side, the extra fibre from the beans helps the body burn through the meal more slowly. It keeps everyone’s energy levels steady instead of that quick spike and crash you get from a carb-heavy dinner.

Adding some to your breakfast

Breakfast is often the most veggie-void meal of the day, usually revolving around cereal, toast, or eggs. But adding a vegetable to the start of your day can make you feel a lot better by lunch.

If I’m making scrambled eggs, I’ll see what’s in the fridge. If there’s half an onion, a few mushrooms, or some spinach, I’ll chop them up and toss them in. It’s not a fancy omelet; it’s just eggs with a little extra substance.

On days when I want toast, I’ve started trying savoury toppings. If I’m having avocado toast, I’ll add a slice of tomato or some cucumber and a sprinkle of salt. It’s fresh, it’s fast, and it’s an easy way to get started on my veggie goal for the day.

Making them easy to grab

We tend to eat what is easiest to grab when we’re hungry. If there’s a whole head of cauliflower buried in the bottom of the fridge, I’m probably going to ignore it because I don’t want to chop it when I’m tired.

You don’t have to spend your entire Sunday meal-prepping, but spending just 10 minutes washing and cutting up some cucumbers, carrots, or peppers can change your whole week. I put them in glass, vacuum-sealed containers where I can see them in the fridge. When I open the door looking for a snack, they’re right there.

And don’t be afraid of the dip. I’ve found that vegetables are a lot more appealing when there’s ranch, hummus, or even peanut butter nearby. If a little bit of ranch helps a kid (or an adult) eat a pile of carrots, that’s a win. The goal is to eat the vegetable, not to be a purist about it.

Progress over perfection

At the end of the day, my goal isn’t to have a perfect diet. Some days, the only vegetable anyone in my house eats is the lettuce on a burger, and I’ve learned to be okay with that. Life is busy, and some weeks are just harder than others.

I just try to keep the door open to eating more plants in a way that feels doable for my actual life. By focusing on adding things in rather than taking things away, it feels a lot less like a chore and more like a normal part of our routine.

Veggie	A simple way to use it	Why it works
Spinach	Toss in a smoothie or pasta sauce	You can’t really taste it once it’s mixed.
Carrots	Roast them with oil and salt	They get sweet and crispy in the oven.
Cauliflower	Mix into rice or mash into potatoes	It takes on the flavor of whatever it’s with.
Zucchini	Grate into muffins or sauces	It adds moisture and bulk without extra flavor.

The Salt and Soul

The Salt (The Science): Sometimes supporting your body doesn’t mean changing everything—it can be as simple as adding a little more to what’s already there. I’ve found that using frozen vegetables is one of the most supportive things I can do for my family’s nutrition. There is a “Transit Gap” with a lot of grocery store produce; most “fresh” veggies were actually picked 1–2 weeks ago. During that time, the vegetable is still ‘breathing’—a process called respiration. It stays alive by using up its own stored sugars and Vitamin C just to keep its cells functioning on the shelf. This is exactly why it eventually wilts or spoils, and why fresh peas can lose up to 50% of their Vitamin C within just 48 hours of being picked. Flash-freezing essentially stops that clock.

Because frozen veggies are flash-frozen within a few hours of harvest, they often enter the kitchen with more vitamins than the fresh ones that sat on a truck for a week. A handful of greens in a smoothie, some frozen vegetables stirred into dinner, or a few extra toppings on your toast are all simple, science-backed ways to create a more nourishing meal.

The Soul (The Wellness): Food doesn’t have to be perfect to be meaningful. When you let go of the idea that every meal needs to look a certain way, it creates more space to enjoy what you’re actually eating. Noticing the small wins—like adding something instead of taking something away—can shift the experience from pressure to progress. Working with your real life, rather than an ideal version of it, often brings a greater sense of ease to the table.